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Topic: My first parmesan (Read 2744 times)

Yesterday I made my first Parmesan and things went pretty well. I have attached a photo of the cheese below. The only problem that I had, and it could be a big one is my yield isn't as high as I thought it would be. I used 2 gallons of 2% store bought milk, the recipe said you will yield 2 pounds and I'm actually at 1 lb 12.7oz before brining. I think my pressing weight was a little off and I was supposed to take it out of the press 3 hours sooner, but an issue came up. Is there anything I can do to save it as I think too much whey was extracted? Should it be waxed or brined for less time?

I have not made parm yet so I have no experiance to coment from but I am guessing it wont be a HUGE issue. Your yield could be a result of the milk yeilds are an approximation of many factors, and your out only about 4 oz so...

That doesn't sound underweight to me. You want this cheese to be on the dry side. Pressing a little longer should not have caused any problems. Moisture content was largely determined in the vat prior to pressing.

The yield for for Parms/Romano Etc are less than a lot of other varieties, < 10% yield for sure. For a make of 2 gallons 1.5 lbs would be in the area you want to be. I think that you are Ok Andy. I would not wax it. You don't say how you plan to age your wheel but I would proceed with the aging with a natural rind-perhaps rub very lightly after a couple of weeks with some quality olive oil. Do you have an area to age in with the proper humidity and temp levels? After at least 2-3 months I would proceed to vacuum pack the wheel if you don't have a way to control your humidity or better still continue to age with just the natural rind.

Thanks for all your input. My cheese cave is between 50- 55 degrees and the humidity jumps between 70% to 80%. I am brining it for 24 hours, plan to pat it dry and put it in my recaverator for a couple months and then coating it with olive oil. I plan to turn the wheel daily for a while, then every other then weekly. I wasn't going to wax it or do anything other than just mentioned. Thanks again for reading and responding to my post, any other input would be greatly appreciated!

OK, I'll take it out pat it dry and move it down to the recaverator. I think as I move forward with Parmesan I will make no less than a 4 gallon batch. From what I have been reading anything smaller dries out to quickly and the edible yield goes down.

You can cut your losses by vaccuum sealing the parm. They do extremely well bagged. I have full wheels of parms, romanos and asiagos 5 years old and 1/2 wheels over 7 years old. All bagged. Aged provalones work well also.

As well as Romano's. I agree with DJDebi- you can cut your losses in the longer term by vacuum sealing. I routinely do that with my grana's after a ~6-9 months of aging with a natural rind. After that I bag-

My first Parmesan is aging quite nicely I have good rind development around the cheese, but the top and bottom are coming along slow. I think it's because those are the sides that are in contact with the aging mats, but they are getting there. My question is how should the rind feel? I'm rubbing olive oil on it to prevent it from drying out to much and salting the slower developing sides, but it feels a little rubbery. It may be normal until the rind gets thicker and the cheese drys out some more. It really looks lovely and I'm very excited about.